Husrev Pasha Mosque

Hüsrev Pasha Mosque is a historic mosque located in the Sur district of Diyarbakır. It is situated in the neighbourhood that shares the same name. It was commissioned by Divane Hüsrev Pasha. Evliya Çelebi, while describing the works of Diyarbakır he visited in 1655, noted that Hüsrev Pasha Mosque was a "charming" place of worship near the Mardin Gate with a large congregation.

History

No source that would definitively clarify the construction date of the building has survived to the present day. However, it was built as a madrasa (Hüsreviye Madrasa) by the city's second Ottoman governor, Divane Hüsrev Pasha, between 1521 and 1528, and after the prayer hall began to be continuously used by the public, a minaret was added in 1728, converting it into a mosque. The building was restored in 1991–1992 by the General Directorate of Foundations.

Architecture

The structure, covering a rectangular area oriented north–south, has a courtyard layout. A wide arched door set within a sharply pointed arched niche leads into a rectangular courtyard, on three sides of which square-sectioned vaulted aisles are arranged. The upper parts of twelve sections of the sharply pointed vaulted aisles are covered with domes, and behind them, on the right and left, there are ten square cells each receiving light from a window. At the far end of the qibla side, a cell is rectangular in plan and its roof is covered with a cradle vault. Between these and the mosque, cells of similar size with domes have been placed. The minaret, added later, rises independently of the building to the west of the courtyard entrance gate on the north side. The mosque’s minaret, made of black-and-white cut stone, has a cylindrical shaft and is in the Seljuk architectural style. The structure uses two-coloured finely cut stone material both together and separately at times. Exterior decoration is applied to the crown gate that provides access to the courtyard and to the minaret.